Channel nine looking for comments about games

Submitted by luciejean on
Forum
Industry and Education

Hi there,
My name is Lucie, I am putting together a story for A Current Affair Channel Nine. I am looking for anyone who has played Hitman, Manhunt and has an opinion on whether they are violent or not. I would also like to find a kid and a parent who have an opinion on these games. Ideally I am looking for someone who thinks the classification laws are fine and people should be able to play these games just as they can chose to watch a violent film.

It would be great to get an opinion from people in the know and I would like to find someone who could be itnerviewed for the program who has a good knowledge of these games.

Any help would be much appreciated at lmcgeoch@nine.com.au or on (02) 9965 2304

Submitted by Red 5 on Mon, 09/08/04 - 7:23 PM Permalink

luciejean, when is the media going to realise that the type of report you're proposing actually feeds the growth of the very games that cause the most controversy... they are in fact designed with this in mind.
We all know that controversy and sensationalism sells product, and we know that any puplicity is generally considered good publicity from a marketing perspective because it brings public awareness to the product... it's free advertising.

Society fears the unknown, just as it always has since the dawn of time... video games are a relatively new medium and to some extent is "unknown" to a large portion of society so therefore it's an easy target of where to place the blame.

If you really want to get to the crux of the problem you need to take a good hard look at your industries role in helping to promote this new medium and everything that goes with it... look for the positives and promote them, don't just focus on the negatives because all you're doing is helping them grow stronger.

Submitted by Daemin on Mon, 09/08/04 - 10:24 PM Permalink

And with more news reports about these games, more of them will be sold, and hence more of them will be made because they sell well. Now really is this what the media would want, or any of those right-winged parent type groups?

Submitted by MoonUnit on Tue, 10/08/04 - 4:25 AM Permalink

my god, gotta love the title to that article, may aswell blame the clothes that were stolen.

Submitted by tbag on Tue, 10/08/04 - 4:59 AM Permalink

Cant wait to watch the next Current Affair [:)], this time they are showing why clothes can kill us and how to prevent ourselves from this, simply by getting naked just like the solution to everything else.

Submitted by Rahnem on Tue, 10/08/04 - 6:52 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Maitrek

Actually you should rephrase that to why 'game developers' are so negative towards the press. The fact of the matter is, I don't feel like the game developers owe any particular favours to gutter jourlism...all they have ever done for us is claim that we are making people kill other people; which, quite frankly, makes me sick.

[:D] When has the media, especially news programs, *ever* portrayed games in a positive light. This issue, and many issues like it, are like the yoyo, which come back into fad every 5 or so years.

A Current Affair, and most of the other news programs in its class such as the 7:30 report, could hardly be classed as objective journalism. It heartens me to see that many other people on this forum agree. It would almost be tempting to do an interview like this, except in the knowledge it would be cut to reflect the opinions of the program.

I can't wait to hear what ignorant, completely biased and ill-informed closing remark we will hear from ray martin this time. [}:)]

Submitted by tbag on Tue, 10/08/04 - 7:09 AM Permalink

I still havent seen a report on email spam such as enlarging your penis. Then everyone could poke fun at Ray because he needs a larger penis [:)].

And no i have no reason for posting that [:)].

Submitted by Daemin on Tue, 10/08/04 - 11:30 AM Permalink

Well what about the woman who bashed her boyfriend to death with an ipod because he accused her of downloading illegal songs and had thus deleted them from her ipod. Now are they gonna ban ipods too?

Submitted by Rahnem on Tue, 10/08/04 - 8:40 PM Permalink

Those damn ipods, I knew nothing good could come of them.. [:p]

Submitted by theoddie on Thu, 02/09/04 - 10:31 PM Permalink

Given that A Current Affair and Today Tonight try to pack 3 or more stories into their 24 minutes of airtime, I wouldnt expect a unbiased story, particularly when ratings are concerned. They want to stir up debate like talkback radio - look at whats happened on this thread so far ;)

The main thing is that parents need to understand what their children can get into nowadays. You can get your hands on anything these days if you want it bad enough so chances are they will be exposed to it at some point. Kids have to be comfortable enough to be able to go to their parents to ask questions, and the parents have to be understanding enough to realise that kids are going to try things and they should have a safe environment to do this...its how we learn.

All this happened in the 80's with metal music, then in the 90's with rap/gangsta music. Each generation grows up, becomes parents and their outlook changes....

Posted by luciejean on
Forum
Industry and Education

Hi there,
My name is Lucie, I am putting together a story for A Current Affair Channel Nine. I am looking for anyone who has played Hitman, Manhunt and has an opinion on whether they are violent or not. I would also like to find a kid and a parent who have an opinion on these games. Ideally I am looking for someone who thinks the classification laws are fine and people should be able to play these games just as they can chose to watch a violent film.

It would be great to get an opinion from people in the know and I would like to find someone who could be itnerviewed for the program who has a good knowledge of these games.

Any help would be much appreciated at lmcgeoch@nine.com.au or on (02) 9965 2304

Submitted by Red 5 on Mon, 09/08/04 - 7:23 PM Permalink

luciejean, when is the media going to realise that the type of report you're proposing actually feeds the growth of the very games that cause the most controversy... they are in fact designed with this in mind.
We all know that controversy and sensationalism sells product, and we know that any puplicity is generally considered good publicity from a marketing perspective because it brings public awareness to the product... it's free advertising.

Society fears the unknown, just as it always has since the dawn of time... video games are a relatively new medium and to some extent is "unknown" to a large portion of society so therefore it's an easy target of where to place the blame.

If you really want to get to the crux of the problem you need to take a good hard look at your industries role in helping to promote this new medium and everything that goes with it... look for the positives and promote them, don't just focus on the negatives because all you're doing is helping them grow stronger.

Submitted by Daemin on Mon, 09/08/04 - 10:24 PM Permalink

And with more news reports about these games, more of them will be sold, and hence more of them will be made because they sell well. Now really is this what the media would want, or any of those right-winged parent type groups?

Submitted by MoonUnit on Tue, 10/08/04 - 4:25 AM Permalink

my god, gotta love the title to that article, may aswell blame the clothes that were stolen.

Submitted by tbag on Tue, 10/08/04 - 4:59 AM Permalink

Cant wait to watch the next Current Affair [:)], this time they are showing why clothes can kill us and how to prevent ourselves from this, simply by getting naked just like the solution to everything else.

Submitted by Rahnem on Tue, 10/08/04 - 6:52 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Maitrek

Actually you should rephrase that to why 'game developers' are so negative towards the press. The fact of the matter is, I don't feel like the game developers owe any particular favours to gutter jourlism...all they have ever done for us is claim that we are making people kill other people; which, quite frankly, makes me sick.

[:D] When has the media, especially news programs, *ever* portrayed games in a positive light. This issue, and many issues like it, are like the yoyo, which come back into fad every 5 or so years.

A Current Affair, and most of the other news programs in its class such as the 7:30 report, could hardly be classed as objective journalism. It heartens me to see that many other people on this forum agree. It would almost be tempting to do an interview like this, except in the knowledge it would be cut to reflect the opinions of the program.

I can't wait to hear what ignorant, completely biased and ill-informed closing remark we will hear from ray martin this time. [}:)]

Submitted by tbag on Tue, 10/08/04 - 7:09 AM Permalink

I still havent seen a report on email spam such as enlarging your penis. Then everyone could poke fun at Ray because he needs a larger penis [:)].

And no i have no reason for posting that [:)].

Submitted by Daemin on Tue, 10/08/04 - 11:30 AM Permalink

Well what about the woman who bashed her boyfriend to death with an ipod because he accused her of downloading illegal songs and had thus deleted them from her ipod. Now are they gonna ban ipods too?

Submitted by Rahnem on Tue, 10/08/04 - 8:40 PM Permalink

Those damn ipods, I knew nothing good could come of them.. [:p]

Submitted by theoddie on Thu, 02/09/04 - 10:31 PM Permalink

Given that A Current Affair and Today Tonight try to pack 3 or more stories into their 24 minutes of airtime, I wouldnt expect a unbiased story, particularly when ratings are concerned. They want to stir up debate like talkback radio - look at whats happened on this thread so far ;)

The main thing is that parents need to understand what their children can get into nowadays. You can get your hands on anything these days if you want it bad enough so chances are they will be exposed to it at some point. Kids have to be comfortable enough to be able to go to their parents to ask questions, and the parents have to be understanding enough to realise that kids are going to try things and they should have a safe environment to do this...its how we learn.

All this happened in the 80's with metal music, then in the 90's with rap/gangsta music. Each generation grows up, becomes parents and their outlook changes....